FELDA SAHABAT (Malaysia), March 9: Malaysian police said on Saturday they had arrested 79 people in Sabah state on the island of Borneo as skirmishes to end a month-long incursion by armed Filipino Islamists left one more dead.

The death of a suspected militant in a shootout on Saturday raised the toll to 61 as Malaysian authorities pursued scores of Filipino gunmen who landed in Sabah last month to resurrect long-dormant land claims.

Federal police chief Ismail Omar said operations to “flush out” the intruders were continuing, with one militant shot dead as he sought to escape a security cordon around two villages and overgrown plantation and swamp land.

“Up to now the police have arrested 79 suspects whom we believe have some links with the intrusion,” he said without specifying where the suspects were seized or giving more details on them.

Ismail said on Friday that police had arrested more than 50 men and women outside the battle zone under a security law. They were being investigated for “committing terrorist acts”, the New Straits Times reported.

Malaysia has vowed to end the incursion, its worst security crisis in years, and rejected a ceasefire call made by the leader of the fighters, who are followers of a self-proclaimed Philippine sultan.—AFP